A common comment from election officials across the state is that voters don’t come out for primaries.
Not all precincts had issues on the May 2023 ballot. Of the precincts that did have ballot issues, voting turnout was low. In Montgomery County, out of 282,430 registered voters in open precincts, 30,615 actually cast ballots in the last week. Greene County has almost 117,907 registered voters in open precincts and 15,400 of them went to the polls. Clark County had 8,171 registered voters in precincts that had ballot issues. However, only 492 voted last Tuesday.
Barbara Ward is the Advocacy Chair for the Ohio Council of YWCAs. She says more grassroots education is needed.
“Especially when it comes to ballot initiatives and who am I voting for, what am I voting for–the education part of the voting process and how it directly affects our day to day is crucial," she explained.
Ward also emphasizes what she calls a simple truth–casting a vote is a person’s opportunity to influence local policies.
“We get to shape what the community looks like. What are the issues important to us–we get to show that through our vote, especially the local elections,” Ward said. “With your vote, it really does affect our day to day lives.”
Across the state, boards of elections have until May 23 to submit their final Primary results to the Secretary of State for final certification.
